Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Nationalist thugs injure police

More than 40 police officers were injured tonight as rioting erupted in north Belfast after a contentious Orange parade passed through a Catholic area.Two journalists were also hurt when missiles and suspected pipe bombs exploded in the flashpoint Ardoyne district.The security forces had attempted to hold back nationalist protesters as hundreds of Orangemen marched along the Crumlin Road for the second time today, after attending a mass rally in the city centre.But even though senior republicans urged nationalist youths not to attack police and soldiers, bricks rained down from rooftops.The PSNI confirmed one police officer was seriously injured in the trouble and more than 40 were injured.Disgraceful scenes without a doubt and contrast this with the situation in Derry where Derry's largest Orange parade in more than a decade passed through the city peacefully.There was no nationalist protest at the previously contentious flashpoint in the Diamond area.Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said that other parts of the North should learn from Derry's example."Conflict is not in the interest of anybody. It's not in the interest of the Orange order, it’s certainly not in the interest of the local community in Derry," he said."I think all areas need to learn a lesson from Derry, and that lesson is that dialogue works, you make a deal and you keep a deal, you make commitments and you keep them."The nationalist thugs in Belfast have really let themselves down. They should learn from the example set by nationalists in Derry. The 'protesters' in Belfast behaved like animals and deserve outright condemnation.Shame on them.